PEBCAC

from http://www.davis.house.gov
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A measure introduced today in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House will offer choice and independence for people with disabilities.  The Community Choice Act, legislation sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL), will bring people with disabilities into the mainstream of society and provide equal opportunity for employment and full involvement in community activities.   It allows people with disabilities who need an institutional level of care the choice of receiving their services and supports in their own communities, rather than in an institution.

“The legislation sends a message to the rest of Congress and to America:  We want real homes, not nursing homes,” said Harkin, one of the authors of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  “Our current system effectively forces people into institutions and requires them to impoverish themselves in order to become eligible for the assistance they need.  It is wrong – and this legislation changes it.”

“This legislation allows States and consumers to obtain more cost effective long-term services in the most appropriate setting for the individual. Individuals with disabilities will be able to chose between services in an institution or services at home permitting more independence, more dignity and reduced cost,” said Congressman Davis.  “Without any new entitlements, The Community Choice Act will allow the dollars to follow the person, and allow individuals, or their representatives, to choose where and how to best receive services and supports.”

Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), individuals with disabilities have the right to choose to receive their long-term services and supports in the community, rather than in an institutional setting.  The Community Choice Act would amend Title XIX of the Social Security Act to make community-based attendant care services an alternative for Medicaid recipients who are “institutionally eligible” for nursing home care.

Disability advocates from around the country traveled to Washington today to rally with the lawmakers as they announced the introduction of the measure, which is supported by all of the major disability organizations.

from wired:

Former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice shed new light on the Bush administration’s warrantless domestic spying last week when he told MSNBC that the NSA blended credit card transaction records with wiretap data to keep tabs on thousands of Americans.

Read more

From The Raw Story:

Monday, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak told CNN’s Rick Sanchez that the US has an “obligation” to investigate whether Bush administration officials ordered torture, adding that he believes that there is already enough evidence to prosecute former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Read more

You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. -Martin Luther King

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

from digg and the NYtimes:

The Bush administration is preparing to transfer to Bosnia three Guantánamo detainees. The transfers would be the first releases from the prison made by the Bush administration because of a court order.

read more | digg story

found on digg:

Babies with a severe form of epilepsy risk having their diagnosis delayed and their treatment compromised because of a company’s patent on a key gene. It is the first evidence that private intellectual property rights over human DNA are adversely affecting medical care.

read more | digg story

Mark Camm, 43, was unsteady on his feet and could barely talk because of his neurological condition. But instead of taking him to the nearest hospital, officers assumed he was drunk and disorderly and arrested him. Not once did the officers enter his cell to carry out a routine examination, preferring instead to look through the grate of the door.

read more | digg story

from digg:

This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. Shame on you if it is.

Documents obtained by civil liberties groups under a Freedom of Information Act request suggest that “triggerfish” technology can be used to pinpoint cell phones without involving cell phone providers at all.

read more | digg story

Tom Olin snapped this candid photo of me, while working on the ADAPT web galleries.

Notice, I don’t have my Mac, my Windows partition crashed hard and my Mac is temporarily out of action. There’s a licensing issue, due to permissions errors. This has made working a bit more difficult. Thankfully, I was able to borrow a lowly PC. Keep checking out www.adapt.org and www.duhcity.org !! Check out their Twitter page too

No time to blog about the action, too busy working and protesting. Keep reading updates at ADAPT.org and DUHcity.org. We had a really long day today, we started around 3 or 4 am and I just got back to the room (It’s 10pm). There are still photos to resize and upload…and back on the streets tomorrow morning.

Tired, but having a blast.

Check out the ADAPT page for DUHcity.

I’m getting packed for ADAPT/DC. Much of my time seems to be spent packing lately. I’m also working on correcting some issues with the ADAPT photo galleries. During the actions, in addition to protesting, I assist Tom Olin and upload his photos to the ADAPT website. While in DC, I’ll also be posting links on my personal blog to ADAPT news/photos/videos.

That’s pretty much it.

The house is slowly starting to take shape. Steph is doing a great job organizing and unpacking. I can’t wait until we’re settled in. Although, I have the sinking feeling we will be fixing and improving things forever.  Within a couple of months, I’ll post pics.

Enuff! See you in DC!

from digg and engadget:
For years, Diebold has embarrassed itself by claiming that obvious faults were actually not faults at all, and during the past decade or so, it mastered the act of pointing the finger. Now that it has ironically renamed itself Premier Election Solutions, it’s finally coming clean.

read more | digg story

Endeavor Freedom TV Profile

I mentioned some issues about social networking and blogging today, to my boss. She was receptive for the most part. Nonetheless, I broached the subject because of the explosion of blogging as a means of self expression and as a business tool that makes a company more transparent. Many major corps have internal and external blogs. More transparent means, in my opinion, an increase in innovation and quality.

And regarding using blogs as a means of self-expression, I think that’s important to the disability community. Sharing our stories and experiences is both powerful to one another and a great political tool. The boss recommended getting essays from people for our corporate webpage, I think it’s a good idea… I just hope to be able to use one of the blogging tools I know, like wordpress. At first, however, it will probably just be coded into pages on our existing site.  Nonetheless, all of this is in preparation for possible presentation of a seminar at the PA SILC. Hopefully I/we accomplish enough to present to others. I’m going to examine Endeavor  Freedom TV again too.

no hyperlinks in this post, feels weird.

from digg:
For those of you who’ve been nabbed coming home from Cuba, or have otherwise fallen into disrepute with U.S. travel authorities and found yourself on a no-fly list, there’s some good news out of the Ninth Circuit: You can challenge your no-fly status in federal court.

read more | digg story

From the Observer-Reporter

By Terri T. Johnson

Washington Councilman Matt Staniszewski steered his wheelchair too close to the sidewalk curb Friday afternoon and almost fell headfirst into a weed-filled ditch in front of 11 S. College St.

Reacting, he did what most in wheelchairs cannot do and slammed his feet on the ground to stabilize himself, thus preventing a nasty spill.

He had difficulty pushing the chair over a small lip in front of another office on South College Street where one part of the concrete sidewalk had heaved up. As he crossed busy Beau Street parallel to College Street, his face took on a decidedly panicked look as traffic whizzed past.

Maneuvering a wheelchair around the city as part of Washington’s Disability Awareness Day proved more diffcult than Staniszewski had expected.

Joined by members of Tri-County Patriots for Independent Living, Staniszewski took a short training course from Michelle Brozinski, assistant deputy director at TRIPIL, who uses an electric wheelchair. Then, rather tentatively, Staniszewski began a slow roll down the East Beau Street sidewalk to College Street in a non-motorized model.

About 20 minutes later, he’d progressed as far as Citizens Library, two blocks away.

“My arms got tired,” he said, taking a short rest in the library parking lot.

“This was quite a challenge,” Staniszewski said, somewhat out of breath. “It definitely made me more aware of the need for proper planning for accessibility issues.”

Members of TRIPIL protested last month at the city’s police station, claiming they were unable to enter because of uneven ramps.

Sidewalks and entrances to businesses and offices must meet standards set by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. A few years ago, the city undertook a major renovation that included new sidewalks with curb cuts to accommodate those with disabilities.

However, Brozinski said not all cuts meet the requirements. Other curb cuts in the city are too steep, she claims. TRIPIL will be doing a survey of the curb cuts Aug. 15. Some driveway and alley crossings have lips, or heaved portions that impede wheels.

Brozinski said maneuvering in an electric chair is easier than moving in a manually operated one.

Staniszewski agreed, taking the second half of the tour in a motorized wheelchair. He added this was the first time he used a wheelchair and he has never needed to use crutches.

He hopes to establish a Commission for the Disabled.

Mayor Sonny Spossey said Thursday he is in the process of re-establishing the commission he first set up in 1984.

Michael Matthews of Washington has cerebral palsy and is a civil right specialist at TRIPIL. He does not require a wheelchair but experiences difficulty with steps and uneven pavement.

Churches are exempt from the ADA requirements, Matthews said.

“But we want to worship like anyone else,” he said, adding he even has difficulty opening doors in certain county-owned buildings with what he called “old-fashioned door handles.”

He is pleased the city is addressing the needs of those with handicaps.

“City officials need to react, not just to TRIPIL, but to the citizens of Washington. We pay taxes, too,” he said.

I’ll be posting more links and articles about disability awareness day in Washington. We had a great media turnout.

From WJPA:
Disability Awareness Day
Today has been proclaimed Disability Awareness Day in the city. This afternoon, representatives from TRIPIL–Tri-County Patriots for Independent Living–will tour sections of the city in both mechanical and electric wheelchairs. City Councilman Matt Staniszewski says it’s an effort to showcase the need for accessibility awareness. Mayor Sonny Spossey says a number of sidewalk improvements have been made over the last several years, thanks to the downtown revitalization project.

I forgot to post this. It’s from 7.17.8. From the Observer-Reporter,

by Amanda Gillooly

Washington City Councilman Matt Staniszewski on Wednesday assured members of the Tri-County Patriots for Independent Living that the city police station would again be handicapped-accessible “as soon as possible.”

The handicapped ramp has dropped several inches since the station was built in 1997, creating a step at the threshold that prevents wheelchair access.

Staniszewski said the first step to fixing that deteriorated entrance is the installation of a portable ramp, which he said would cost between $100 and $300.

And plans for a permanent fix are in the works as well, he said.

Staniszewski said Councilman Terry L. Faust, director of parks and public buildings, has met with a contractor and is awaiting a final cost for the necessary bonding agent concrete.

He said council hopes to have the concrete ramp installed within the next two weeks. Council also plans to meet with an engineer to address other accessibility concerns at the station, such as door handles and restrooms.

Both he and Councilman Thomas Blackhurst met with TRIPIL to give them an update on the police station repairs - an issue that had members of the organization protesting outside the building Friday.

Staniszewski told those in attendance that council in June declined to allocate funding for the project because the cost was not yet known.

“We did not vote against the police department,” he said. “We all take equal accessibility very seriously.”

A suit against Kopko Contracting, which built the police station, is still in litigation, he said.

During the course of the more than hour-long meeting at TRIPIL’s Washington headquarters, Staniszewski told members that council would declare Aug. 8 as Disability Awareness Day.

Members of TRIPIL volunteered to attend council’s Aug. 4 workshop to give accessibility training. Then on Aug. 8, Staniszewski said he would meet members outside TRIPIL’s Beau Street building at 1 p.m. to take a tour of the city.

He said he’d like to make the trip in a wheelchair so that he can see first-hand the challenges of navigating city streets. An invitation would be extended to the rest of council, Mayor Sonny Spossey, city engineers and the Washington County Redevelopment Authority.

He also mentioned re-establishing a disability committee to address accessibility issues city-wide.

Michelle D. Brozinski, assistant deputy director for TRIPIL, lauded the meeting, and said she hopes the plans that were discussed are implemented.

“I’m just hoping the council follows through,” she said. “Our goal is to ensure equal accessibility.”

From the Observer-Reporter

Members of Tri-County Patriots for Independent Living on Friday protested their inability to gain access to the Washington police station. The handicapped ramp to the station has dropped several inches, creating a step at the threshold that prevents wheelchair access. TRIPIL director Kathleen Kleinmann said members were disappointed City Council voted against fixing the problem last month. “We’ve been told repeatedly that City Council was aware of it and going to take care of it,” she said, noting that people need to come to the station for fingerprinting if they are applying for public housing.

Mayor Sonny Spossey, who voted for the expenditure, said, “They don’t have an issue with me; they have an issue with three other council people.”

Councilman Matt Staniszewski said the station’s deteriorating condition is an 11-year-old problem, but it wasn’t brought to council’s attention until now. He has scheduled a meeting with TRIPIL next week to address the issue.